So you have decided to set up your own website. May it be a personal blog, business use or even e-commerce store. Whatever the reason, there are various ways you can approach this. You can choose to spend a huge amount of money hiring a web developer to build your website or you can do it yourself the cheap way.

If you are a huge startup or business with lots of customization needed on your site, you would probably need a web developer to help build your site. And this will definitely cost you a fortune which is something you might need to consider invest in.

But what if you are looking to build a simple website which is functional with standard customization? You can easily set up a simple site yourself at a very cheap price. Most site owners or bloggers set up their websites on their own. Why? Because you can do it! There are so many ways you can approach this.

Before i begin telling you how you can set up your site up cheaply, you will first need to decide what you need in a website. You can either:

1st Option: Hire a web developer to build your website. (Most expensive method)

2nd Option: Opt for drag and drop platform such as Weebly which is fairly cheap compared to option 1.

3rd Option: Set it up yourself at a cheap price yourself. (Cheapest option)

In this post, I will be sharing more on how you can set up your website at the lowest cost possible (Option 3 above). This will give you a fully functional website with lots of plugins option to make your site as user friendly possible. Note that most blogs out there are set up this way as well.

1.Purchase your domain and hosting

The first step in setting up your website is to purchase your domain and hosting plan. If you have no clue what this is, I have explained this in my older post on hosting. You can either opt to purchase both domain and hosting separately but I always prefer to get it under the same provider as I find it easier to manage.

If you decide to get the most basic hosting plan in which you can only host 1 domain, it would cost you less than USD70 per year (less than USD6 per month). There are many hosting provider out there but I would recommend Hostgator for their exceptional service. Use my link to get your domain at only $4.99 and hosting plan at 40% off here. (Coupon Code: INTERESTING60).

Do not worry. You can do it yourself through this step by step guide that would help you set it up from scratch.

Total Cost: USD70

Yes, that is pretty much the cost you would incur on for a functional website. The rest are recommended but optional. You do not need it to have a functional site.

Useful reads:

Self hosted or free hosted website

Free guide to set up your website from scratch

2.Installing your website themes

The second step is getting your site layout all figure out. This is important in the sense that it showcase how your website look like. The good news is, you do not need to be  an expert in programming to do this. There are tons of ready made themes for you to choose from. All you need to do it install it.

I presume you have purchase your domain, hosting and have install wordpress on your website. If you have not, you can easily do it with this free guide. Now, in your dashboard, you will notice a sidebar at the left side where you will see ‘themes’. Click in it and browse for the themes you like. There is a live preview option for you to have a look at how it look like before you install.

The themes are free but if you do not like the free themes, you can always purchase themes from external providers. The best way to do that is google the themes and browse. Of course that come with a price but still way cheaper compare to hiring a developer.

Total Cost: Free (If you opt for free themes)

3. Installing Plugins

I like to put it this way when it comes to setting up my website. Purchasing your domain and hosting is like buying a land. It gives you the right to your address ownership and for your land to be found. The themes is equivalent to building your house on the land. That is the first impression people have when they visit your house. Now comes the plugins.

Plugins are extras to help enhance your website functionality. Similar to installing a bell in your house, building a mail box and etc. If you look at my site, you will notice lots of plugins on my sidebar:

• Facebook plugins
• Instagram plugins
• My mailing list plugins
• Recent Post plugins

Those are just some which are visible. These are extras that will help enhance the functionality on my site. Most of the plugins are free but of course you need to pay for the premium package if you decided to upgrade. For my blog, I always opt for the cheapest or free plugins till I am more established.

Total Cost: Free (basic plugins)

If you have no idea which plugins you need on your site, I will be sharing a post on list of useful plugins in my future post. For the meantime, feel free to subscribed to my list so i can notify you when it is ready.

Total Breakdown

That is pretty much all you need for a good functioning website. Plugins are the differentiating factor when it comes to building up your site functionality. So how much does it cost to build up your site? Let’s compare.

Total Cost:

1st Option: USD1,000 to USD15,000

2nd Option: USD96

3rd Option: Less than USD70

There you go. This is on the assumption that you do not opt for an premium themes or plugins. The cheapest way to set up your site at under USD70 per month. That is less than USD5.99 per month. To put things into perspective, that is the same cost as a big mac meal. At such a cheap price, everyone can literally own a website. Here are 9 reasons why you should consider having one.